Secret Crush
by Strifegirl
Summary: Piper is under a spell of a strange crystal that made her invisible. And while she tries to find a way to turn back the spell, she learns about Aerrow's true feelings for her by accident and she still can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing. What she will do when she confronts him? Find out! : AerrowxPiper One-Shot


_Atmos, world of a thousand mountain top kingdoms, each protected by a Sky Knight against the forces of darkness. The greatest of all Sky nights led the Storm Hawks. His mission was to unite the kingdoms and rid Atmos of evil forever; but he was betrayed. The Storm Hawks were defeated and all hope was lost._

_Until now... _

_I'm Aerrow, the last descendant of the original Storm Hawks and I've been given their mission. This is my squadron: Finn, the marksman; Junko, the strongman; Piper, the specialist; Stork, the helmsman and of course my co-pilot Radarr. We're the Storm Hawks and for us the sky is never the limit._

**"Secret Crush"**

Aerrow was on patrol as usual when he noticed something strange coming from Piper's room. He knew she had been working on the newest crystal they found on Terra Neon, but he was beginning to worry about her since she hardly left her room.

"Um... Piper? Is everything okay in here?" He opened the door.

As soon as he said that, the room lit up with a strange glow and he could barely see what was going on. He tried to open his eyes but the glow was too strong. Suddenly, a familiar scream was heard and he panicked.

"Piper!"

The glow subsided for a moment giving him the opportunity to get close to where she was. He took her hand and pulled her out of danger and that's when the piece of the crystal she was working with, exploded into pieces. Luckily no one got hurt, but Piper's room wasn't that lucky.

"Are you all right?" He asked worried as he lifted her from the floor.

"Aw man!" She said loudly making Aerrow jump. "Look at this mess. Now I have to start all over again." She said frustrated.

"Um... Don't you think is a little bit dangerous to keep working on that after what just happened?"

"Are you kidding me? I was about to discover the capabilities of this strange crystal, but I had a moment of clumsiness and screwed up." She hit her face with the palm of her hand.

"Hey, don't be so hard on you. Nobody is perfect." He shrugged. "Besides, is not healthy for you to keep working on it all day."

She sighed. "Aerrow... I am the expert, remember? It's my job to find out the properties of all the crystals we find so we can use them against enemies."

"Yeah, but..."

"No "buts". I have to keep working on this until I learn how to control it." She pushed him out of her room.

"But, Piper..."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Why don't you guys go ahead and do whatever it is that you do to have fun, hmm?" She suggested.

Aerrow sighed. "Fine. But be careful."

"I will. Now go on and leave this to me." She closed the door after that.

Aerrow stood there for a moment looking at her door and then he left to resume his patrol.

Meanwhile, Piper was leaning with her back against her door trying to clear her mind. She was determined to find out about the properties of that crystal but she tried almost everything and nothing seems to work. Once again she took another piece of that crystal and continued with her investigation.

The hours pass and Piper still couldn't figure out how to activate the power of the crystal. If only she had a clue of what kind of crystal was, it would make her work a lot easier.

Minutes later, Piper begins to yawn succumbed to fatigue and exhaustion and she rested her head on the table for a moment. Without realizing it, she starts talking in her sleep and the crystal that was on the table began to shine again.

Suddenly, Piper awakens from her dream and noticed something. Her whole body shined with a strange glow and she was floating around the room.

"What's happening?" She said puzzled.

And just when she looked down, she saw herself sleeping on the table.

"I must be dreaming." She pinched herself in order to wake up. "OOOOUCH! Wait, this isn't a dream?!" She went to her sleeping self to try to wake her up. "Come on Piper, wake up already!" She tried to shake herself, but her hands passed through her body like a ghost. She tried again and the same thing happened over and over. She was starting to get despaired and she tried to use one of her crystals, but she couldn't grab anything from the room.

"Oh no, what am I gonna do now?" She panicked. "I gotta go tell Aerrow. He will know what to do."

She flew out of her room and went ahead to look for the others on the Condor. Unfortunately, no one was around except for Stork who was still cleaning the bridge.

"Stork! Thank goodness you're here. I need your help." She said frantically.

Stork didn't listen to Piper's voice and he continued what he was doing.

"Stork? Oh no... He can't listen to me. I better go find Aerrow." She flew away again and went outside the Condor to find the others.

Meanwhile, Aerrow and the rest of the gang were outside the Condor throwing some sort of fruits to each other to practice their targeting. Although everyone seems to be having fun, Aerrow was just standing there watching everyone play.

Piper managed to get closer to him and she tried to get his attention but no matter what she did Aerrow couldn't listen to a word she was saying.

"Aerrow! Aerrow! It's me, Piper! Listen, you gotta help me out! I just..."

"Hey, Aerrow." Yunko called. "Aren't you gonna play with us? You've been standing there ever since we started."

Radarr agreed with Junko.

"Sorry guys, but... I'm not really in the mood to play." He shrugged.

"Oh-ho... I know what's going on." Finn said as he approached Aerrow. "You miss Piper." He slightly pushed him with his elbow and Piper looked at him with a puzzled look.

"What?" Aerrow blushed a little. "No, that's not it."

"Then how do you explain your behavior?" Finn teased him.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." Aerrow tried to avoid eye contact with Finn.

"Aw come on. Ever since she came back with that crystal, you've been acting so strange around her. It's like you want to get her attention or something."

"Now that you've mentioned it, Aerrow does look a bit livelier when Piper is around." Junko said and Radarr nodded at this.

"See? What did I tell ya." Finn crossed his arms.

"Uh... guys? I think you got the wrong idea about me and Piper." Aerrow began to sweat. "You see, Piper and I are just good friends..." He scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, right and Stork is the Mambo king." Finn said.

Junko and Radarr burst into laughter after hearing that and even Piper laughed at that comment.

"Aerrow, admit it! You like her. And you can't stand the idea that she prefers to be with a bunch of crystals than you." Finn punched him slightly on the chest with his fist to tease him.

"Look, even if I did..." He scratched the back of head again. "Piper is never gonna see me as more than just a friend. She just wouldn't be interested anyway." He shrugged sadly.

"How can you be so sure if you haven't even asked her?" Junko said.

"Because... I don't wanna ruin our friendship." He said finally.

Piper's jaw dropped down after hearing the whole conversation. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Aerrow... likes me?" She said confused.

All of this time he's been feeling this way and she didn't noticed because of her obsession with Crystals. She felt kinda bad for letting him down and she couldn't decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

At that moment, Stork came out of the Condor calling frantically for the others.

"Guys! Guys! Come quick!" Stork shouted.

"What is it Stork?" Asked Aerrow.

"It's Piper. Something is wrong with her. I can't wake her up."

Aerrow's eyes widened and the rest of the gang panicked after hearing that. Without thinking it twice, he made haste and ran back to the Condor along with the rest of the gang. Aerrow arrived first to Piper's room and that's when he saw her lying down on the floor.

"Piper! Piper! Wake up!" He shook her in order to wake her up.

"That's not gonna help. Believe me I've tried that already." Stork said.

"How long is she been like this?" Aerrow asked worried.

"I'm not sure. But when I came here she was already like this." Stork explained.

"But, what could have caused her to lose consciousness?" Finn asked.

"It must be the Mind worms!" Stork said panicked. "Or maybe she's under some sort of a spell."

"A spell... The crystal!" Aerrow affirmed. "Quick, bring me a Blocking crystal!"

Radarr went through Piper's storage to look for the crystal while Aerrow took Piper in his arms and lay her on his lap.

"What makes you think that crystal is going to work?" Finn said incredulously.

"I'm not sure but whatever it is we need to find a way to counter its effect."

A minute later, Radarr found the crystal and gave it to Aerrow.

"Nice work Radarr! I hope this works." He used the crystal on her and everyone was crossing their fingers as they waited patiently; but the crystal didn't work and Piper remained unconscious. Aerrow was beginning to lose hope but he still wouldn't give up on her. "There's gotta be another way to wake her up." He said firmly.

"I know! Why don't we destroy the crystal?" Junko suggested.

Aerrow's hopes came back when he heard that idea. "That's it! Junko, take the crystal and smash it with all your might!"

"I'm on it!" Junko replied. Stork took the crystal from the base and placed it on the floor while Junko smashed his fists to activate his Knuckle Busters. Then he hit the crystal, causing it to shatter into pieces. Aerrow and the other looked at Piper to see if it worked but there was still no sign of movement.

"It didn't work either." Finn said sadly and the rest of the gang lowered their heads.

"Oh no... I knew I shouldn't have left her alone with that stupid crystal." Aerrow lowered his head in frustration. "Come on Piper. You have to wake up. We need you back... I uh... I need you." He cupped her cheek in his hand and caressed her with his thumb. He then took her hand in his and he closed his eyes with great regret.

Suddenly, Piper stirred under him and Aerrow opened his eyes to look at her. Slowly, she opened her eyes and found a pair of green eyes staring down at her with concern.

"Aerrow?" She said grunting.

"Piper! You're back!" Aerrow said exalted and the rest of the gang cheered happily.

"What just happened?" Piper scratched her forehead confused.

"You mean you don't remember?" Aerrow asked.

"The last thing I remembered is that I was trying to get some sleep and then..." She gasped. "The crystal! It's a Lucid Dream Crystal!" She concluded.

"A Lucid Dream Crystal?" They all asked at the same time.

"Uh-huh. It's a crystal that makes your subconscious go out of your body while you're sleeping."

"What's so good about that crystal anyway?" Asked Finn.

"I'm not sure yet. But I bet it can help us to spy on the enemy's plans while we sleep." She said excitedly.

"There's only one thing wrong about that power. The only way to wake up from a lucid dream is destroying the crystal." He pointed her where the crystal was.

"Oh..." Said Piper.

"Yeah. Oh..." Aerrow's face was serious.

"If only I could find a way to make the Lucid Dream go away, then maybe we can use it to..."

"Piper, stop with the crystals already!" He raised his voice and Piper was surprised to see him so upset. "Don't you realize how dangerous it is to work on crystals that you don't even know what they are?" He grabbed her shoulders firmly.

"But I uh..." She looked the other way to avoid his gaze.

"No "buts"! You won't be working on any strange crystals unless it's safe, got it?" He schooled her and Piper lowered her head with a frown.

"And what else you want me to do? I can't fight like a real Sky Knight. I'm only good with strategies and crystals, so don't tell what I can do or not." She pushed him away and went outside to take some air. Aerrow stood there with a puzzled look on his face while the rest of the gang left the room as well.

"Way to go Romeo." Said Finn before he left the room.

Aerrow lowered his head and let out a sigh.

Meanwhile, Piper was outside of the Condor trying to clear her thoughts. She was still thinking about what Aerrow said about her and she didn't know what to do about it. She liked Aerrow as well, but she didn't want to ruin their friendship because of some confusion.

"Piper?" A familiar voice called her.

Piper turned around and saw Aerrow approaching her. Aerrow noticed her sad expression and tried to apologize to her. "Look, about what I said... I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

"That's okay Aerrow. I understand why you did it, but you gotta let me do my work. It's the only thing I'm good at it."

"I know. Is just that... I don't want you to get hurt." He looked at her with concern in his eyes. "You really did scare me back there."

Piper looked at him in the eye and she couldn't help the blush.

"Listened, if you want to keep working on the crystals, then it's okay with me. But next time, let me know if I can help you with anything. That way I won't get so worried." He smirked.

Piper's eyes were locked on his green ones and she summoned the courage to ask him the very question her heart has been keeping in secret for so long.

"Why do you care so much about me?" She said almost like a whisper.

Aerrow's eyes widened a bit when he heard her question and he couldn't help the blush.

"You know why..." He replied unsure.

"I do?"

Aerrow looked at her and smiled at her.

"I care about you because you're my friend. And the thought of losing you is just too unbearable for me. You're my best friend Piper..." He smiled. "And without you, none of this makes sense."

Piper narrowed her eyes and also smiled. She then came closer and wrapped her arms around him and Aerrow did the same. They stood like that for a moment until they both separated from each other's embrace only to search for their eyes. Their eyes met for a moment and Aerrow leaned forward to press a kiss on her lips. Piper's eyes widened when she felt his lips upon hers, but then she closed her eyes as well and let the moment take over.

She was finally able to understand her feelings for Aerrow and she hoped that from now on, she and he will always be inseparable.

The end.

* * *

_**A/N: I know, I know... u.u I know this is not a Cloti or a Minakushi fic o.o but I really felt like writing this :3**_

I've been watching the Storm Hawks for a while and just found out there's another season *w* aww man I loved that show x3 too bad they cancelled it T_T

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my first fic for this couple. I had a great time writing this one :D and hopefully it won't be my last ;D

Disclaimer: I don't own the Storm Hawks and its characters. Only the story. No copyright infringement intended.


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